Thea Merrell

Start Selling Your Photography: Getting Started with Stock Photography

<p>Amazing--these would draw anyone in! </p>

In Thea's class, she explains the process of uploading images to stock photography websites. Where buyers can shop for images, but there are quality requirements, market interest and other approval standards. Is there a ways to monetize my genre of underwater photography? Might be a better way to word my question.

Looking at the photos I would say a few of them would be worth trying. I like the top two seal ones. I also like the flower looking image. I think the more colorful ones could work. I would say it is worth a shot. I would go to shutterstock and do a general search and see how yours compare to what is already selling. The divers could sell but you would need a model release which isn’t always too hard

Also a second note, look at the image at 100%. The last one looks blurry so I’m sure they would deny that but the top two seals look good from my point of view. The sea urchins photo and the seahorse one are good but there are blown out white spots a reviewer might not like. So I would clone the area or patch took it to take out the white spots.

Thank you Thea!!! All the divers sign a release form that includes an image use clause. I'll need to check to make sure the wording of that clause would satisfy the needs of sites like shutterstock. I'll try to upload a few and see if they pass muster. I have tens of thousands of images from thousands of dives over the last 8 years. Just maybe there are a few gems in there. The environment of underwater photography is so very different than "still shot" photography on land. Wild animals almost never give me a second chance at the money shot. What about video clips? Are there sites to sell video clips? And do screen captures of a hi-res video frame work on any of these sites? BTW I totally enjoyed your class!!!

All of the above were sized down raw. I have pretty good editing skills when I want to take the time to do it. 2Gb limit to upload here.

Thank you so much for the feedback and I’m glad my class  encouraged you. Video can make even more money than images. They only need 10-30 second clips. You get 30% of sales. And the price is dependent on if it is 4K HD or SD.  The process is the same except you have to upload via ftp. They have instructions online to help you. You really have a unique niche that I think would be worth trying to capitalize on. Not everyone can get photos like that.

<p>Some samples of my U/W photography. Is this kind of stuff worth taking a shot at this or would it be a total waste of time?<img style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" src="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/a1b96252" alt="Worthwhile Fixing or Worthless? - image 1 - student project" srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=600,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/a1b96252 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/a1b96252 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" loading="lazy"><img style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" src="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/ba814d0b" alt="Worthwhile Fixing or Worthless? - image 2 - student project" srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=600,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/ba814d0b 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/ba814d0b 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" loading="lazy"><img style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" src="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/d3153223" alt="Worthwhile Fixing or Worthless? - image 3 - student project" srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=600,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/d3153223 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/d3153223 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" loading="lazy"><img style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" src="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/6fb88e6f" alt="Worthwhile Fixing or Worthless? - image 4 - student project" srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=600,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/6fb88e6f 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/6fb88e6f 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" loading="lazy"><img style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" src="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/e5a5ca77" alt="Worthwhile Fixing or Worthless? - image 5 - student project" srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=600,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/e5a5ca77 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/e5a5ca77 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" loading="lazy"><img style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" src="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/b4b88650" alt="Worthwhile Fixing or Worthless? - image 6 - student project" srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=600,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/b4b88650 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/b4b88650 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" loading="lazy"><img style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" src="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/179d31ac" alt="Worthwhile Fixing or Worthless? - image 7 - student project" srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=600,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/179d31ac 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/179d31ac 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" loading="lazy"><img style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" src="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/a57c43d6" alt="Worthwhile Fixing or Worthless? - image 8 - student project" srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=600,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/a57c43d6 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,width=1000,format=auto/uploads/project/9f4e3d36c0978206d208a9fbebef6920/a57c43d6 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" loading="lazy"></p>


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